Custody Battle
by kabukimono
Summary: Masamune and Yukimura's fight takes an unexpected turn one day when they stumble across a decimated village with one lone survivor.


"Date Masamune!" Sanada Yukimura yells, as serious and focused as ever as his spears clash with the six claws of Dokuganryuu Date Masamune. This is their fight. The blood-lust and aggression that burns throughout his body pushes him to the limit. His surroundings are a blur of green and blue and red. In contrast his enemy, his rival is in crisp-detail. All six swords, his dangerous grin, and that odd helmet--

Sanada Yukimura is having the time of his life.

They clash again and again, sparks flying from the metal straining against each other as they try desperately to overcome each other's weakness, should they exist. Any opening, any weak point, they block and dodge and though Yukimura feels a sting on his side where his armor doesn't cover, and he sees bright red splash in his vision from Masamune's torso, they aren't yet, not yet, not yet.

So engrossed in their fight that they don't notice they're _moving_. Away from the armies and away from the clearing, through the trees (which are both hindrance and help and Yukimura needs to get out of them before he loses his reach) and into sudden --

Smoke.

It blinds them both, makes their eyes water and they don't stop. This only adds another element of excitement, fear, and anticipation to the battle. Yukimura gives it all that he's got. This, day, this day, _this day_ will be the day that the results of all their battles will finally be...

--Interrupted by the unmistakable, piercing cry of a baby.

Both men stop. The sounds of people dying all around them are one thing. Battle cries and drums, and voices cut off with gargles - those are all sounds they're used to and breathe in. But the sound of a civilian on the battlefield...? Especially one so young.

They look around them.

The smoke's source is seen clearly, a decimated village by the river. It had been this smoke that Yukimura and his men had been investigating when they had come across the Oushuu army. Furious, Yukimura whirls to face the other man. To attack civilians in such a way--

Is not the way of the Date. Furious as he may be, he sees the confusion and anger on Masamune's face. No. Attacking civilians is not the way of the Date at all. As his rival, Yukimura understands this.

"_What a waste._" Masamune mutters, putting all of his swords but one away for now. There's no telling if the persons that wrecked the village are still around. If they are, they're going to regret ever staying around long enough to have met him. Even he knew that civilians were off-limits, and any person willing to attack them weren't worth another glance.

Yukimura is already looking for the source of the wailing. Though they may not be in the territory of his lord, it is still his duty to look out for the common people! If there are any survivors of this attack then he must do his best, as a representative of the Takeda, to help them and support them if needed.

The crying continues, and it leads them both to a mostly collapsed, still smouldering home. The heat drafting up from the straw and mud don't bother Yukimura much as he leans in to investigate, using the blunt end of his spear for greater reach.

Masamune won't use his weapons for such a thing, but his arm guards don't touch his skin, and it's easy enough to use them to knock aside unstable beams before they fall and singe of Yukimura's ponytail.

Underneath the rubble, and underneath the body of a woman, there is a tiny baby. Not much more than a newborn, she cries and cries in the soot and dust and it takes careful maneuvering to extract her from the wreckage.

And now both men are at a loss.

Yukimura holds the baby not unlike one would hold a puppy, cradling her in his arms. He knows it's incorrect, but the feeling of this small, vulnerable life in his arms is already... strange. Disturbing. He doesn't know what to do.

"Date-dono," Yukimura asks him as they step away from the wreckage. The baby is still crying, though at least her wails have quieted upon his contact to something he can be heard over. "I, Yukimura... have never had a child before!"

Masamune glances at him. The man is his rival but he's so... strange, sometimes. And the way he's holding the baby is _all wrong_. "Does it look like I have one, either? You're going to drop it."

Yukimura adjusts his grip automatically, prompting the baby's cries to increase as she's made uncomfortable. They both wince, and Yukimura finally holds the child out away from himself. "I don't understand!"

Masamune snatches the child away from him. He's never had any of his own, but his solders have kids, and he's heard plenty of complaining about them. They need to eat and sleep, and they're cute when they're cuddled, and if Yukimura can't do it right, then Masamune is just going to have to show him how it's done. Living so close to the villagers sometimes, he's seen how women carry their brats. It's not that _hard_.

She doesn't stop crying, even when he tries to pat her back. It can't be any worse than a cat or another animal, can it?

"We should find a woman," he points out. A woman would know what to do.

Finding a woman is easier said than done. Of course, there are no women in their armies. A search of the small village reveals no other survivors. Not only that, but as they head back to the entrance of the village where they had started, both men realize that they don't remember exactly where they came from.

"We shall wait for Sasuke!" Yukimura says, and he knows that his ninja will surely arrive at any moment. Masamune is already walking into the forest, using one hand to shield the baby's face from foliage that may get in his way. He'll find the way back and he doesn't need a ninja to do it. Yukimura follows him, protesting. "Date-dono! That child is now a child of Kai, and I, Yukimura, will not allow you to put her at such risk!"

Masamune stops, and though the forest is thick and dim-lighted, they can see each other well enough. Both are angry, glaring, which is a bit ridiculous because this is just a _baby_. The kid is beginning to make even him uncomfortable, and he passes her back over. "Then take care of her."

The baby protests the rough handling. She's already hungry and she's tired and these two strange men keep waking her from the tiny naps she's taking. She wants her mother, she wants her father, she wants to be warm and safe, and most of all...

Yukimura takes the child back into his arms a bit tentatively. Following Masamune's earlier example, he tucks the child into his arm, using both of his hands to support her. Surely his lord would be most proud of him, for learning so quickly about the finicky care of children!

Then both men turn red, embarrassed, and Yukimura stands there at a loss of words or thoughts as the child roots against his breast plate, her small hands touching the hem. Even they know it's fairly obvious what she wants. "No, no!" Yukimura tries to pull away. "I, Yukimura, am not a woman." He's most certainly a man, even if this is completely unmanly.

They are saved by the timely arrival of wind and leaves and Sarutobi Sasuke. Sasuke pauses for a moment, looking at the two men and their new company and he looks just as confused as they feel. But then he's grinning at his master, despite the situation and despite their enemy just feet away.

"You two move quickly, don't you?"

The innuendo is lost on Yukimura. "Of course we do, Sasuke! Date-dono and I will never stop fighting!"

Masamune is losing his patience. He moves away from them, continuing to head through the trees. If the ninja has arrived, then they aren't _lost_. He's getting restless and irritated now. Yukimura has his ninja, but his own Right Eye has yet to join them.

Yukimura follows with Sasuke at his side. To Yukimura's great relief, Sasuke has taken hold of the baby and while she's still fussing, he's holding her in such a way that seems to placate her. And of course, Sasuke's thick clothing means that she can't mistake him for her mother. How versatile ninjas are!

"What are you planning on doing about this little one, Danna?" His lord has helped villagers before, but he's never picked up a baby before. The way he'd been handling her had made that more than obvious.

"Perhaps we will take her back to Kai and instruct her in the ways of my lord," Yukimura muses. Any child would be happy and well under Takeda Shingen's tutelage, surely. Even a child this young will grow older and be of great use.

Masamune glances back at them. "_Hah_! That kid will be better with us." Yukimura doesn't even know to hold a kid right. He's not going to be able to raise one. Not that Masamune would raise the kid either, but he's sure Kojuurou would be able to. Masamune turned out great, didn't he?

"Absolutely not, Date-dono!" Yukimura shouts. He had found the child and they were nearer to Kai. This child was his, now!

Sasuke covers the baby's head with a hand. The poor thing must be starving, and the shouts of two hot-heads won't do anything to help.

They continue to bicker and argue as they head back to where their armies are waiting for them. Their voices rise and drop, and both of them are clutching their weapons tightly in their hands. It's only the trees surrounding them and the child's occasional scandalized wails that keep them from launching an all-out assault against the other. Again.

When they finally break out of the forest and back into the field, the tension snaps and both men fly into another fight. The sound of metal clanging together as they fight and the smell of fire and lightning fill the air around them. Sasuke joins Katakura Kojuurou on the side as they both watch their masters.

"... a child?" Kojuurou asks after a moment. He has nothing to say to a servant of the Takeda, but he's more than a little curious.

Sasuke shrugs. "They move fast."


End file.
